Menu Item Types are organized into group types: Contacts, Newsfeeds, Weblinks, Articles, Search, Users Manager, Wrapper and System Links. Article Links are the most commonly used and will display pages on your web site. External Links are used to display links to external web sites. Separators are used to place a graphic or other separator between menu options.

+

Menu Item Types are organized into sections: Contacts, Newsfeeds, Weblinks, Articles, Search, Users Manager, Wrapper and System Links. With a few exceptions, these sections are further narrowed down so that you can select:

+

*'''A list of the categories in that section. '''

+

*'''A list of the items in a specific category of that section. '''

+

*'''A single item within a section. '''

+

+

Article Links are the most commonly used and will display content pages on your web site. External Links are used to display links to external web sites. Separators are used to place a graphic or other separator between menu options.

==Articles==

==Articles==

−

When the Articles link is selected, it expands to show the options shown below.

+

Under the Article Section, you have the following options.

−

[[Image:menu_item_type_articles.png|frame|center]]

+

−

Each of these is described below.

+

===Archived Article List===

===Archived Article List===

Line 411:

Line 414:

{{colheader|Menu Image}}

{{colheader|Menu Image}}

−

===Separator===

+

===Menu Item Alias===

+

This Menu Item Type creates a Link to an existing Menu Item. It allows you to have identical Menu Items on two or more different Menus without duplicating the settings. So, for example, if you change a parameter of a Menu Item that has an Alias linked to it, the Alias will automatically acquire the same change.

+

+

'''Parameters - Basic'''

+

The Alias has one Basic Parameter.

+

*'''Menu Item.''' The Menu Item that this Alias links to. Select the Menu Item from the drop-down list box.

+

''Italic text''

+

+

===Text Separator===

This Menu Item type creates a Menu Placeholder or a Separator within a Menu. These can be used to break up a long Menu.

This Menu Item type creates a Menu Placeholder or a Separator within a Menu. These can be used to break up a long Menu.

Line 417:

Line 428:

The Separator has one Basic Parameter.

The Separator has one Basic Parameter.

{{colheader|Menu Image}}

{{colheader|Menu Image}}

−

−

===Alias===

−

This Menu Item Type creates a Link to an existing Menu Item. It allows you to have identical Menu Items on two or more different Menus without duplicating the settings. So, for example, if you change a parameter of a Menu Item that has an Alias linked to it, the Alias will automatically acquire the same change.

−

−

'''Parameters - Basic'''

−

The Alias has one Basic Parameter.

−

*'''Menu Item.''' The Menu Item that this Alias links to. Select the Menu Item from the drop-down list box.

How To Access

To Create a New Menu Item: Select Menus → [name of the menu] from the drop-down menu on the back-end of your Joomla! installation. For example, if a Menu is called "Main Menu", select Menus → Main Menu → Add New Menu Item. Or you can navigate to the Menu Manager and click on the icon in the toolbar to create a new Menu Item.

To Edit a Menu Item: Select Menus → [name of the menu] from the drop-down menu on the back-end of your Joomla! installation. For example, if a Menu is called "Main Menu", select Menus → Main Menu. Or you can navigate to the Menu Manager and select the item(s) you wish to edit by selecting their checkboxes or clicking on the item's title.

Description

The first step to creating a new Menu Item is to select it's Type. The Menu Item Type determines the type of page that will display when this menu choice is selected by the User. In this screen, you will select the Menu Item Type for the Menu Item you are creating.

Screenshot

Note: If you install one or more Joomla! extensions, these extensions may add new Menu Item Types. In this case, your list will have additional types.

Menu Item Types

Menu Item Types are organized into sections: Contacts, Newsfeeds, Weblinks, Articles, Search, Users Manager, Wrapper and System Links. With a few exceptions, these sections are further narrowed down so that you can select:

A list of the categories in that section.

A list of the items in a specific category of that section.

A single item within a section.

Article Links are the most commonly used and will display content pages on your web site. External Links are used to display links to external web sites. Separators are used to place a graphic or other separator between menu options.

Articles

Under the Article Section, you have the following options.

Archived Article List

Used to show a list of Articles that have been Archived and can be searched by date. Archived articles are no longer published but are still stored on the site. Articles are Archived using the Article Manager screen. Note that Articles assigned to the "Uncategorized" Section will not show on the Archived Article List layout.

Parameters - Basic This Menu Item Type Archived Article List allows you to set the sort order of Archived Articles, as shown in the screenshot below.

The Default order is most recent first. The Order option sorts Articles by the Order column in the Article Manager.

Article Layout

Used to show a single article on the page. Note: This layout replaces the Static Content and Link Content used in Joomla! version 1.0.

Parameters - Basic The Article Layout has one Parameter, the Article to include in the layout, as shown below.

Press the Select button to select the desired Article for this layout.

Article Submission Layout

Allows users to submit an article. This only works for users who are members of the Authors, Publishers, or Editors groups. Members of the Registered or Public groups will not be able to submit articles even if this page is visible to them. If the page is visible to a user without the correct access level, they will get an error message when trying to load the page.

This type has no Basic or Advanced Parameters.

Category Blog Layout

Used to show articles belonging to a specific Category, in a blog layout.

A Blog Layout in Joomla! has 3 main areas: Leading, Intro, and Links. These are shown in the diagram below.

Articles in the Leading Area always display in one column, using the full display width. Articles in the Intro Area may display in one, two, or three columns, depending on the Columns setting. The parameters below control the number of Articles in each area and the order in which they display. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the text before the break (called the Intro Text) will display, along with a "Read more..." link.

Parameters - Basic The Category Blog Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Category. Category selected for this Layout.

Description. Hide or Show the Category and Section Descriptions on the Layout. If 'Show' is selected, the Description will display above the first Article, just below the Page Title.

Description Image. Hide or show the Description Image on the Layout. If 'Show' is selected, the Image for this Category or Section will display on the left or right of the Description, depending on the Image Position specified in the Category Edit Screen or the Section Edit Screen.

# Leading. Number of Articles to show using the full width of the main display area. "0" means that no Articles will show when using the full width. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the part of the text before the break (the Intro text) will display.

# Intro. Determines the number of Articles to display after the leading Article. These Articles will display in the number of columns set in the Columns parameter below. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the text before the break (Intro text) will display, followed by a "Read more..." link. The order order in which to display the articles is determined by the Primary Order parameter in the Parameters - Advanced section below.

Columns. The number of columns to use in the Intro Text area. This is normally between 1 and 3. If 1 is used, the Into Text Articles will display using the full width of the display area, just like the Leading Articles.

# Links. The number of Links to display in the 'Links' area of the page. These links allow a User to link to additional Articles, if there are more Articles than can fit on the first page of the Blog Layout.

Parameters - Advanced The Category Blog Layout has the following Advanced Parameters, as shown below.

Category Order. Order of Categories in this Layout. The following options are available.

No. Order by Primary Order Only: Articles are ordered only by the Primary Order, without regard to Category.

Title - Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Order: Categories are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Category Manager.

Primary Order. Order of Articles within a Category. The following options are available.

Default: Same as Most Recent First. Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Oldest first: Articles are displayed starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent.

Most recent first: Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Title - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Author - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Author - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Most Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the most hits and ending with the one with the least hits

Least Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the least hits and ending with the one with the most hits

Order: Articles are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Article Manager.

Multi Column Order. In multi-column blog layouts, whether to order articles Down the columns or Across the columns.

Down: Order articles going down the first column and then over to the next column, for example:

article 1

1 (continued)

article 2

article 4

article 3

article 5

Across: Order articles going across the columns and then back to the first column, for example:

article 1

1 (continued)

article 2

article 3

article 4

article 5

Pagination. Hide or Show Pagination support. Pagination provides page links at the bottom of the page that allow the User to navigate to additional pages. These are needed if the Articles will not fit on one page. An example is shown below.

The following options are available.

Auto: Pagination links shown if needed.

Show: Pagination links shown if needed.

Hide: Pagination links not shown. Note: In this case, Users will not be able to navigate to additional pages.

Pagination Results. Hide or Show the current page number and total pages (e.g., "Page 1 of 2") at the bottom of each page.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Category List Layout

Used to show articles belonging to one Category, in a list layout. A list layout lists each Article's Title and allows the User to link to the Article. An example is shown below:

Parameters - Basic The Category List Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Category. Category selected for this Layout.

# Links. The number of Articles to display in the initial view. If a Category has more than this number of Articles, only this many links will show on the first page. In this case, the User can either change the "Display #" in the drop-down list box or use the "Next" link to show the next page of Articles.

Table Headings. Hide or Show column headings above the fields for the item.

Date Column. Hide or Show the Created Date for the Article in a column between the Title and Author.

Date Format. The format of the Created Date. You may leave this blank to use the default date format from your Language file. This value uses the PHP strftime Command Format.

Filter. Hide or show a Filter form. A Filter allow the user to limit what Articles are displayed. An example is shown below.

Filter Field. Field to use for filtering Articles. Available options are Title, Author, and Hits.

Parameters - Advanced The Category List Layout has the following Advanced Parameters, as shown below.

Primary Order. Order of Articles within a Category. The following options are available.

Default: Same as Most Recent First. Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Oldest first: Articles are displayed starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent.

Most recent first: Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Title - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Author - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Author - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Most Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the most hits and ending with the one with the least hits

Least Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the least hits and ending with the one with the most hits

Order: Articles are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Article Manager.

Pagination. Hide or Show Pagination support. Pagination provides page links at the bottom of the page that allow the User to navigate to additional pages. These are needed if the Articles will not fit on one page. An example is shown below.

The following options are available.

Hide: Pagination links not shown. Note: In this case, Users will not be able to navigate to additional pages.

Show: Pagination links shown if needed.

Display Select: Show or Hide the Display # drop-down list box. This allows you to limit the number of Articles listed on one page.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Front Page Blog Layout

Used to show all Articles that have been published to the Front Page, in a Blog Layout.

A Blog Layout in Joomla! has 3 main areas: Leading, Intro, and Links. These are shown in the diagram below.

Articles in the Leading Area always display in one column, using the full display width. Articles in the Intro Area may display in one, two, or three columns, depending on the Columns setting. The parameters below control the number of Articles in each area and the order in which they display. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the text before the break (called the Intro Text) will display, along with a "Read more..." link.

Parameters - Basic The Front Page Blog Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

# Leading. Number of Articles to show using the full width of the main display area. "0" means that no Articles will show when using the full width. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the part of the text before the break (the Intro text) will display.

# Intro. Determines the number of Articles to display after the leading Article. These Articles will display in the number of columns set in the Columns parameter below. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the text before the break (Intro text) will display, followed by a "Read more..." link. The order order in which to display the articles is determined by the Primary Order parameter in the Parameters - Advanced section below.

Columns. The number of columns to use in the Intro Text area. This is normally between 1 and 3. If 1 is used, the Into Text Articles will display using the full width of the display area, just like the Leading Articles.

# Links. The number of Links to display in the 'Links' area of the page. These links allow a User to link to additional Articles, if there are more Articles than can fit on the first page of the Blog Layout.

Parameters - Advanced The Category Blog Layout has the following Advanced Parameters, as shown below.

Category Order. Order of Categories in this Layout. The following options are available.

No. Order by Primary Order Only: Articles are ordered only by the Primary Order, without regard to Category.

Title - Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Order: Categories are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Category Manager.

Primary Order. Order of Articles within a Category. The following options are available.

Default: Same as Most Recent First. Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Oldest first: Articles are displayed starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent.

Most recent first: Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Title - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Author - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Author - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Most Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the most hits and ending with the one with the least hits

Least Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the least hits and ending with the one with the most hits

Order: Articles are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Article Manager.

Multi Column Order. In multi-column blog layouts, whether to order articles Down the columns or Across the columns.

Down: Order articles going down the first column and then over to the next column, for example:

article 1

1 (continued)

article 2

article 4

article 3

article 5

Across: Order articles going across the columns and then back to the first column, for example:

article 1

1 (continued)

article 2

article 3

article 4

article 5

Pagination. Hide or Show Pagination support. Pagination provides page links at the bottom of the page that allow the User to navigate to additional pages. These are needed if the Articles will not fit on one page. An example is shown below.

The following options are available.

Auto: Pagination links shown if needed.

Show: Pagination links shown if needed.

Hide: Pagination links not shown. Note: In this case, Users will not be able to navigate to additional pages.

Pagination Results. Hide or Show the current page number and total pages (e.g., "Page 1 of 2") at the bottom of each page.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Section Blog Layout

Used to show Articles belonging to one Section, in a Blog Layout.

A Blog Layout in Joomla! has 3 main areas: Leading, Intro, and Links. These are shown in the diagram below.

Articles in the Leading Area always display in one column, using the full display width. Articles in the Intro Area may display in one, two, or three columns, depending on the Columns setting. The parameters below control the number of Articles in each area and the order in which they display. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the text before the break (called the Intro Text) will display, along with a "Read more..." link.

Parameters - Basic The Section Blog Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Section. Section selected for this Layout.

Description. Hide or Show the Category and Section Descriptions on the Layout. If 'Show' is selected, the Description will display above the first Article, just below the Page Title.

Description Image. Hide or show the Description Image on the Layout. If 'Show' is selected, the Image for this Category or Section will display on the left or right of the Description, depending on the Image Position specified in the Category Edit Screen or the Section Edit Screen.

# Leading. Number of Articles to show using the full width of the main display area. "0" means that no Articles will show when using the full width. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the part of the text before the break (the Intro text) will display.

# Intro. Determines the number of Articles to display after the leading Article. These Articles will display in the number of columns set in the Columns parameter below. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the text before the break (Intro text) will display, followed by a "Read more..." link. The order order in which to display the articles is determined by the Primary Order parameter in the Parameters - Advanced section below.

Columns. The number of columns to use in the Intro Text area. This is normally between 1 and 3. If 1 is used, the Into Text Articles will display using the full width of the display area, just like the Leading Articles.

# Links. The number of Links to display in the 'Links' area of the page. These links allow a User to link to additional Articles, if there are more Articles than can fit on the first page of the Blog Layout.

Parameters - Advanced The Section Blog Layout has the following Advanced Parameters, as shown below.

Category Order. Order of Categories in this Layout. The following options are available.

No. Order by Primary Order Only: Articles are ordered only by the Primary Order, without regard to Category.

Title - Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Order: Categories are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Category Manager.

Primary Order. Order of Articles within a Category. The following options are available.

Default: Same as Most Recent First. Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Oldest first: Articles are displayed starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent.

Most recent first: Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Title - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Author - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Author - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Most Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the most hits and ending with the one with the least hits

Least Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the least hits and ending with the one with the most hits

Order: Articles are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Article Manager.

Multi Column Order. In multi-column blog layouts, whether to order articles Down the columns or Across the columns.

Down: Order articles going down the first column and then over to the next column, for example:

article 1

1 (continued)

article 2

article 4

article 3

article 5

Across: Order articles going across the columns and then back to the first column, for example:

article 1

1 (continued)

article 2

article 3

article 4

article 5

Pagination. Hide or Show Pagination support. Pagination provides page links at the bottom of the page that allow the User to navigate to additional pages. These are needed if the Articles will not fit on one page. An example is shown below.

The following options are available.

Auto: Pagination links shown if needed.

Show: Pagination links shown if needed.

Hide: Pagination links not shown. Note: In this case, Users will not be able to navigate to additional pages.

Pagination Results. Hide or Show the current page number and total pages (e.g., "Page 1 of 2") at the bottom of each page.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Section Layout

Used to show Articles by Category in one Section, in a list layout. This layout shows a list Categories in the Section. An example is shown below:

Each Category links to a page that is similar to a Category List Layout, providing links to each Article in that Category. Note that you cannot directly set parameters to control the display of these Category List Layouts from within this screen. However, it is possible to do this using separate Menu Items for each Category. See the article How to control Category List layouts when drilling from a Section Layout for more information.

Parameters - Basic The Section Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Section. Section selected for this Layout.

Description. Hide or Show the Section Description. If 'Show' is selected, the Description will display at the top of the page, just under the Title.

Description Image. Hide or show the Description Image on the Layout. If 'Show' is selected, the Image for this Category or Section will display on the left or right of the Description, depending on the Image Position specified in the Category Edit Screen or the Section Edit Screen.

Category List - Section. Hide or Show the list of Categories in this Section. Normally, you will want this set to 'Show'. If this is set to 'Hide', no Categories will display and Users will be unable to navigate to the Articles in a Category.

Empty Categories in Section Show or Hide Categories that contain no Articles.

# Category Items. Hide or Show the number of Articles in each Category.

Category Description Hide or Show the Description for each Category.

Parameters - Advanced The Section Layout has the following Advanced Parameters, as shown below.

Category Order. Order of Categories in this Layout. The following options are available.

No. Order by Primary Order Only: Articles are ordered only by the Primary Order, without regard to Category.

Title - Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Order: Categories are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Category Manager.

Primary Order. Order of Articles within a Category. The following options are available.

Default: Same as Most Recent First. Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Oldest first: Articles are displayed starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent.

Most recent first: Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.

Title - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Title - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Author - Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in alphabetical order (A to Z)

Author - Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)

Most Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the most hits and ending with the one with the least hits

Least Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the least hits and ending with the one with the most hits

Order: Articles are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Article Manager.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Parameters - Component for Articles

All Articles Layouts have the same options under Parameters - Component. For each of these components, you may select one of three options: No/Hide, Yes/Show, or Use Global. An example of this section is shown below.

The value from the Parameters - Advanced section of the Article Manager New/Edit is examined. If this value is set to Yes/Show or No/Hide, then that action is taken and no further checking is done.

If the value above is set to "Use Global" then the value from the Parameters - Component section of the Menu Item Type (this screen) is examined. If this value is set to Yes/Show or No/Hide, then that action is taken and no further checking is done.

If both of the values above are set to "Use Global" then the value from Article Manager/Parameters is used to determine the result.

The individual Parameters are described below.

Show Unauthorized Links. (No/Yes/Use Global). Whether or not to show links that the User is not authorized to access. If set to No, Users will only see Menu Items that they may access. If set to Yes, every User will see all Menu Items, whether or not they can access them. In this case, if an unauthorized user selects a Menu Item that they cannot access, a Login screen will display.

Show Article Title. (No/Yes/Use Global) Whether or not to show the title of the article.

Title Linkable. (No/Yes/Use Global) Whether or not the Title of the Article will be a hyperlink to the Article.

Show Intro Text. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not the Intro Text will display.

Section Name. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not the Section Name will display.

Section Title Linkable. (No/Yes/Use Global) Whether or not the Title of the Section will be a hyperlink to the Section page.

Category Title. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not the Category Title will display.

Category Title Linkable. (No/Yes/Use Global) Whether or not the Title of the Category will be a hyperlink to the Category page.

Author Name. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display the Author Name.

Created Date and Time. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display the date and time the Article was created.

Modified Date and Time. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display the date and time the Article was last modified.

Show Navigation. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to show a navigation link (e.g., Next, Previous) between Articles.

Read More... Link. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to show the "Read More..." link to link from the part of the Article before the "Read More..." break to the rest of the Article.

Article Rating/Voting. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display the Article Rating/Voting module.

Icons. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether the PDF, Print, and E-mail buttons for the Article will display as Icons or Text. If set to Hide, these buttons will display as Text ("PDF", "Print", and "E-mail"). If set to Show, they will display as Icons. Note that these buttons only display if the individual options are set to Show.

PDF Icon. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display a button to allow the Article to be rendered in a new window in PDF format. This allows the User to view, print, or save the Article as a PDF file.

Print Icon. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display a button to allow the Article to be printed. This allows the User to print the current Article in a printer-friendly format.

E-mail Icon. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display a button to allow a link to the Article to be e-mailed. This displays a form that allows the user to send an e-mail with a link to the current Article.

Hits. (Hide/Show/Use Global) Whether or not to display the number of hits for an Article.

For each feed item show. (Hide/Show/Use Global) If set to Hide, only the intro text of each feed item will display. If set to Show, the full text of the feed item will display.

Contacts

When the Contacts link is selected, it expands to display the options shown below.

Each of these is described below.

Contact Category Layout

Used to show all of the published Contacts in a given Category. Note that Contact Categories are separate from Article Categories. Contacts and Contact Categories are entered by selecting Components/Contacts. See Contact Manager and Category Manager for more information.

Parameters - Basic

The Contact Category Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Category. Category selected for this Layout.

# Links. Number of contacts to show.

Contact Image. Image for this Page. Image must be located in the folder "images/stories".

Image Align. Align the image on the left or right side of the page.

Limit Box. Hide or Show the Limit Box, shown below.

This allows the User to limit the number of items that will display per page.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Standard Contact Layout

Used to show the details of a single Contact.

Parameters - Basic

The Standard Contact Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Contact. Select the desired Contact from the drop-down list box.

Drop Down. Hide or Show a drop-down list box that allows a User to select a different Contact from the same Category.

Show the Category in Breadcrumbs. Hide or Show the Contact Category in the Breadcrumbs display.

Parameters - Component for Contacts

All Contacts Layouts have the same options under Parameters - Component. An example of this section is shown below.

Icons/Text. What to display next to the Contacts fields. Options are Icons/Text/None/Use Global.

Address Icon. Icon to use for Address. Select an image file in the drop-down list box. These images are located in the 'images/M_images' folder.

E-mail Icon. Icon to use for E-mail. Select an image file in the drop-down list box. These images are located in the 'images/M_images' folder.

Telephone Icon. Icon to use for Telephone. Select an image file in the drop-down list box. These images are located in the 'images/M_images' folder.

Mobile Icon. Icon to use for Mobile phone. Select an image file in the drop-down list box. These images are located in the 'images/M_images' folder.

Fax Icon. Icon to use for Fax. Select an image file in the drop-down list box. These images are located in the 'images/M_images' folder.

Miscellaneous Icon. Icon to use for Miscellaneous. Select an image file in the drop-down list box. These images are located in the 'images/M_images' folder.

Show Table Headings. Hide or Show the column headings (Name, Address, and so on) in the Contact Category Layout.

Show Contact Position. Hide or Show the Contact's Position.

Show E-mail Address. Hide or Show the Contact's E-mail address.

Show Telephone Number. Hide or Show the Contact's Telephone number.

Show Mobile Number. Hide or Show the Contact's Mobile phone number.

Show Fax Number. Hide or Show the Contact's Fax number.

Enable vCard. Whether or not to enable vCard support for Contacts. vCard is a special file format for electronic business cards. This allows contact information to be sent in a standard way via e-mail. Note that this parameter must be set to "Yes" for the vCard feature to work. If this parameter is "No" and vCard is set to "Show" for a Contact, the vCard link will show but the link will not work correctly. It will only show a blank screen.

Banned E-mail. Enter any e-mails to be banned from the site. E-mail addresses containing any of the listed text will be banned. Separate different words with semi-colons ';'. For example, the entry "spam;junk" would ban e-mail addresses such as "myspam@.com" or "aeddie@junkisgood.com".

Banned Subject. Enter any e-mail subject words to be banned from the site. Separate different words with semi-colons ';'. For example, the entry "spam;junk" would ban e-mail subjects such as "This is not spam" or "I Like Junk".

Banned Text. Enter any e-mail text words to be banned from the site. Separate different words with semi-colons ';'. For example, the entry "spam;junk" would ban e-mail content such as "This is not spam" or "I Like Junk".

Session Check. Whether or not to check for the existence of a Session Cookie on the User's computer. If set to 'Yes', Users without Cookies enabled will not be able to send e-mails.

Custom Reply. Whether or not to use the Custom Reply. Setting this to 'No' allows integration to other systems.

Newsfeeds

When the News Feeds link is selected, it expands to display the options shown below.

Each of these is described below. Note that News Feed Categories are separate from Article Categories. News Feeds and News Feed Categories are entered by selecting Components → News Feeds. See News Feeds Manager and Category Manager for more information.

Category List Layout

Used to show a list of all News Feed Categories.

Parameters - Basic

The Category List Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Limit Box. Hide or Show the Limit Box, shown below.

This allows the User to limit the number of items that will display per page.

Description. Hide or Show the News Feed Description Text, entered below. If 'Show' is selected, the Description text will be displayed just below the Page Title.

Description Text. The text to display as the News Feed Description.

Image. Image for this Page. Image must be located in the folder "images/stories".

Image Align. Align the image on the left or right side of the page.

Category Layout

Used to show a list of News Feeds in a Category.

Parameters - Basic

The Category Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Category. Category selected for this Layout.

Limit Box. Hide or Show the Limit Box, shown below.

This allows the User to limit the number of items that will display per page.

Single Feed Layout

Used to show a single News Feed.

Parameters - Basic

The Single Feed Layout has the following Basic Parameter, as shown below.

Feed. The News Feed for this page. Select one of the available News Feeds from the drop-down menu. News Feeds are added using the News Feed Manager.

Parameters - Component for News Feeds

All News Feed Layouts have the same options under Parameters - Component. An example of this section is shown below.

Search

When the Search link is selected, it expands to display the Search layout. This is used to show the Search form and the Search results as shown below.

Parameters - Basic

The Search Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Use Search Areas. Whether or not to show the Search Areas check boxes. These check boxes allow a User to limit the search to any combination of Articles, Web Links, Contacts, Categories, Sections, and News Feeds.

Show Created Date. Hide or Show the Date and Time the Article was created when displaying the Search results.

Parameters - Component

Search Layout has the following options under Parameters - Component:

These setting work with the settings in the Search Statistics. If a parameter here is set to 'Yes', 'No', 'Show', or 'Hide', then that action is taken. If a parameter here is set to 'Use Global', then the setting in Search Statistics is used.

Gather Search Statistics. Whether or not to enable the gathering of Search Statistics. Yes/No/Use Global.

Show Created Date. Whether to Hide or Show the Created Date for an Article. This parameter can be overridden at the Menu Item and Article level.

Users Manager

When the User link is selected, it expands to display the options shown below.

Each of these is described below.

Default Login Layout

Allows a user to login to the site, as shown below.

Parameters - Basic

The Default Login Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Show Login Page Title. Hide or Show the Title of this Page.

Login Page Title. Title to display as the Page Title. If blank, the Title of the Menu Item will be used.

Login Redirection URL. The URL of the Page that the User will be redirected to after a successful login. If blank, the Front Page will be used.

Login JS Message. Hide or Show the JavaScript pop-up that indicates a successful login.

Logout Description Text. Text to display on a successful logout. If blank, the variable "LOGOUT_DESCRIPTION" will be used.

Logout Image. Image for the Logout Page. This must be in the "images/stories" folder.

Logout Image Align. Align image to the left or right of the page.

Default Registration Layout

Allows a user to register for the site, as shown below.

This Layout has no unique Parameters.

Default Remind Layout

Allows the user to receive an e-mail with their username, as shown below.

This Layout has no unique Parameters.

Default Reset Layout

Allows the user to reset their password, as shown below.

This Layout has no unique Parameters.

Default User Layout

Shows a welcome message when the User enters the registered zone. This Layout has no unique Parameters.

User Form Layout

Allows a User to edit their account details, choose a new password, change the language for both the Back-end and Front-end, and modify their time zone. Users with publishing permissions may choose a text editor. Users with administrator permissions may choose the Help Site they want to use in the back-end. The layout for users in the Registered and Author groups is shown below.

This Layout has no unique Parameters.

Web Links

When the 'Web Links' link is selected, it expands to display the options shown below.

Each of these is described below.

Web Link Category List Layout

Shows a list of all the Web Link Categories. The User may click on a Category to see the links for that Category.

Parameters - Basic

The Web Link Category List Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Image. Image for this Page. Image must be located in the folder "images/stories".

Image Align. Align the image on the left or right side of the page.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Category List Layout

Shows a list of all of the Web Links in a Category.

Parameters - Basic

The Category List Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Category. Web Link Category for this Page. Select a Web Link Category from the drop-down list box. Note that these Categories are different from Article Categories and are entered from the selection Components/Web Links/Categories.

Show a Feed Link. Hide or Show an RSS Feed Link. (A Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers).

Web Link Submission Layout

Shows a form that allows a Registered User to submit a Web Link, as shown below.

This only works for users who are members of the Authors, Publishers, or Editors group. Members of the Registered or Public groups will not be able to submit articles even if this page is visible to them. If the page is visible to a user without the correct access level, they will get an error message when trying to load the page.

Parameters - Component for Web Links

All Web Links Layouts have the same options under Parameters - Component. An example of this section is shown below.

Description. Hide or Show the Web Links Introduction below. If this value is set to 'Show' and the Web Links Introduction field below is empty, then the text from the Web Links: Global Configuration parameter will be used instead.

Link Descriptions. Hide or Show the Link Description for each Web Link.

Other Categories. Show also other categories. Note: there must be at least one item assigned in the other category/categories to show it!

Table Headings. Hide or Show column headings above the fields for the item.

Target. How to open the link. Options are:

Parent Window with Browser Navigation. Open the link in the current browser window, allowing Back and Forward navigation.

New Window with Browser Navigation. Open the link in a new browser window, allowing Back and Forward navigation.

New Window without Browser Navigation. Open link in a new browser window, not allowing Back and Forward navigation.

Icon. The Icon to be displayed to the left of the Web Links URL. Select an image file from the drop-down list box. The images are listed from the 'images/M_images' folder.

Wrapper

When the Wrapper link is selected, it expands to display the Wrapper layout. This is used to show an external web site inside a page in your web site, using an HTML IFrame. The external web site is contained inside the Wrapper. You can navigate to different pages in the wrapped web site, all inside the page of your web site. The example below shows the Joomla! web site inside a Wrapper.

Parameters - Basic

The Wrapper Layout has the following Basic Parameters, as shown below.

Wrapper URL. URL for the web site to open inside the Wrapper IFrame.

Scroll Bars. Whether or not to include horizontal and vertical scroll bars. Auto will add the scroll bars automatically when needed.

Width. Width of the IFrame Window. You can enter in a number of pixels or enter in a percentage by including a "%" at the end of the number. For example, "550" means 550 pixels. "75%" means 75% of the page width.

Height. Height of the IFrame window, either in pixels or percent (by adding "%" to the number).

System Links

External Link

This Menu Item Type is used to create a menu choice that links to an external web site or page.

Parameters - Basic The External Link has one Basic Parameter.

Menu Image. Optional image to display to the left or right of the Menu Item. Image must be in the folder "images/stories".

Menu Item Alias

This Menu Item Type creates a Link to an existing Menu Item. It allows you to have identical Menu Items on two or more different Menus without duplicating the settings. So, for example, if you change a parameter of a Menu Item that has an Alias linked to it, the Alias will automatically acquire the same change.

Parameters - Basic The Alias has one Basic Parameter.

Menu Item. The Menu Item that this Alias links to. Select the Menu Item from the drop-down list box.

Italic text

Text Separator

This Menu Item type creates a Menu Placeholder or a Separator within a Menu. These can be used to break up a long Menu.

Parameters - Basic The Separator has one Basic Parameter.

Menu Image. Optional image to display to the left or right of the Menu Item. Image must be in the folder "images/stories".

Menu Item Details and Parameters - System

When any of the Menu Item Types listed above are selected, a details screen similar to the one below displays.

The 'Menu Item Details' and the 'Parameters - System' parts are the same for each Menu Item. These are documented below. The 'Parameters - Component' part is different for each Internal Link group -- Articles, Contacts, News Feeds, Polls, Search, User, Web Links, and Wrapper. Therefore, these are documented in each group's section above.

The Parameters - Basic section is different for each Menu Type. Also, some Menu Types contain a Parameters - Advanced section, which is also different for each Menu Type. These are documented for each individual Menu Type above.

Menu Item Details

Title. The Title for this item. This may or may not display on the page, depending on the parameter values you choose.

Alias. The internal name of the item. Normally, you can leave this blank and Joomla! will fill in a default value. The default value is the Title or Name in lower case and with dashes instead of spaces. You may enter the Alias manually. The Alias should consist of lowercase letters and hyphens (-). No blank spaces or underscores are allowed. The Alias will be used in the URL when SEF is activated. Note: If the title consists of non-Latin characters, the Alias will default to the current date and time, for example "2009-02-11-17-54-38".

Link. The internal link to the web page. Joomla! fills this in for you. No entry is allowed.

Display in. Menu where this Menu Item will display. Normally, no entry is needed, since this defaults to the current Menu. However, this may be changed to any Menu using the drop-down list box. Note that if you change this to a different menu, when you press "Save" you will be returned to the Menu Item Manager for the new parent Menu.

Parent Item. Used to determine whether a Menu Item is a top-level item or a submenu item. Select 'Top' (the default value) if this is a top-level Menu Item. Otherwise, select the Menu Item that is this item's parent.

Published. Whether or not this item is published. Select Yes or No from the radio button group to set the Published state for this item.

Order. Indicates the order of this Menu Item in the Menu. The default Order is to add the Menu Item to the end of the Menu. This Menu Item will moved to the order position just after the Menu Item selected from the drop-down list. Note that the Order of Menu Items can also be changed in the Menu Item Manager.

Access Level. Who has access to this item. Current options are:

Public: Everyone has access

Registered: Only registered users have access

Special: Only users with author status or higher have access

Enter the desired level using the drop-down list box.

On Click, Open in. Controls whether the page is opened in the Parent Window with Browser Navigation, in a New Window with Browser Navigation, or in a New Window without Browser Navigation. For Menu Items that reference pages inside your web site, you will mostly use the first option, which is the default. Links to external web pages normally use one of the "New Window" options so the user can see the external link without leaving your site.

Parameters - System

This section, shown below, allows setting additional parameters.

These are described below.

Page Title. Optional entry for Page Title. The Page Title displays in the title area of browser window. If this is left blank, the Menu Title is used. If the Show Page Title parameter is set to 'Yes', this title also displays as the title of the page.

Show Page Title. Whether or not to display the Page Title. If this is set to Yes, then a Page Title will display on the page above the first Article. The title that displays will either be the Page Title set in Parameters - System above, if entered, or the Menu Item Title (if the Page Title is blank). Note that this does not work on the Article, Section Table, and Category Table layouts.

Page Class Suffix. Optional entry. Allows you to enter a CSS class suffix that will be attached to all classes of this page. This allows you to create customized CSS styles that will apply just to selected pages. You would then modify the "template.css" file of your template to apply styling to this new class.

Enter this parameter with a leading space to create a new CSS class for each element. Enter the parameter without a leading space to change the CSS class name for each element.

Menu Image. Optional image to display to the left or right of the Menu Item. Image must be in the folder "images/stories".

SSL Enabled. Whether or not this page should use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and the Secure Site URL. This is used to encrypt the information sent between the browser and the web site.

Quick Tips

Parameters for Articles and Contacts can be set at 3 different levels:

the individual Article or Contact New or Edit screen (Article:[Edit] or Contact:[Edit]).

the Menu Item that displays the Article or Contact (this screen).

the Global Configuration screen, accessed using the Parameters button on the Article Manager and Contact Manager screens.

The parameter set for the individual Article or Contact always takes first priority. If the individual parameter is set to "Use Global", then the parameter set in the Menu Item takes priority. If both of these are set to "Use Global", then the parameter in the Global Configuration takes priority.

Parameters for News Feeds, Search, and Web Links work in a similar way, except that they are only set in this screen and in the Global Configuration screens. No parameters are set for individual items of these types. As with Articles and Contacts, the Menu Item setting takes priority over the Global Configuration setting.

Use the Global Configuration parameters whenever possible. This way, if you want to change a parameter setting for all content items, you can just change it once in the Global Configuration and it will automatically be reflected in all affected content items.

Often on the Front Page component, Joomla! users do not want their Articles to display in 2 columns, which is the default value. The first Article displays in one column (using the full width), but subsequent Articles display in 2 columns. This can be adjusted by changing the values of the Parameters - Basic for the Front Page.

If you are trying to manually change the order of articles on the Front Page or in a Blog or List Layout, make sure that you have the Primary Order and Category Order parameters set correctly in the Parameters - Advanced Section. If these parameters are set incorrectly, changing the order manually will have no effect on the order on the web page.

Toolbar

Cancel. Go back to the main screen of the Manager, without saving the modifications you made.